


The Legend of Starkiller Hollow

by valda



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Historical, Horror, Kidnapping, Legends, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27315688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valda/pseuds/valda
Summary: A retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with a twist.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 23
Kudos: 63
Collections: Huxloween 2020





	The Legend of Starkiller Hollow

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Легенда о Лощине Старкиллер](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29051586) by [Lenuchka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenuchka/pseuds/Lenuchka), [WTF Galactic Empire 2021 (Team_Galactic_Empire)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Team_Galactic_Empire/pseuds/WTF%20Galactic%20Empire%202021)



> This fic fits Huxloween day 20, Pumpkins; day 28, Historical Horror; and day 31, Corruption, I think! Content notes at the end. (A special thanks to [Pan](https://twitter.com/StarseedComic) for inspiring this fic by streaming the Glenn Close narrated version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the other day.)
> 
> Happy Halloween!

Nestled amidst a lay of hills in the wild, largely unknown lands west of Ord Mantell lies a sleepy little town known as Starkiller Hollow. It has remained much the same as it was when it was first settled: people live in the same quaint, hand-built homes and trod the same narrow, stone-cobbled streets that were there in the beginning. Here, far from the bustle of the Core, villagers live a quiet, modest, but comfortable existence, their days lazy and calm.

The town has such a timeless, dreamlike quality to it, such a connection to the lands around it, that it has inspired many fantastical tales: stories of ghosts and demons, faeries and witches, dryads and banshees and fauns. To an outsider, especially one from the city, it might be difficult to accept that these are anything more than fairy tales, but a single visit gives even the most logical, ardent denier of the supernatural pause. One such tale has come to be known as The Headless Rider of Starkiller Hollow.

Many have actually seen it: the specter of a lone, headless rider on a monstrous stallion, brandishing a ball of flame as they gallop a frenzied path from the church graveyard all the way to the covered bridge leading out of the valley. Some say it’s the ghost of a soldier who was killed in battle, and that when conditions are the same as on the fateful night they died, the moon in the same place in the sky, the air just as crisp, and the wind rustling through the dying leaves of the trees, they rise from their grave and charge back toward the battlefield in search of the head they lost there. No matter how much truth there is to that, one thing is certain: it would not be wise to stand in the Rider’s path, lest you be trampled by their wraith-stallion’s hooves or incinerated by hellfire. If you should happen to see the Rider, your best option is to run.

Once, there was a man who saw the Rider. He had heard this very tale...but he didn’t run fast enough.

This man’s name was Armitage Hux, and he was the lone schoolteacher in Starkiller Hollow. He lived in a small but tidy home next to the schoolhouse, and he spent his days setting lessons and giving lectures. An ex-patriate from across the ocean, Armitage was thought to have great wisdom and understanding of the wider world, though in truth his knowledge came mostly from books. Still, he was clever, and he taught the children of town well, and he possessed classical features, gray-green eyes, full lips, and a wry wit, which won him a dinner invitation nearly every night from one household or the other. He was very popular, considered one of the most eligible bachelors in the Hollow.

On the opposite side of town from the schoolhouse, along a road leading to the abandoned kyber jewel mines, sat Palpatine Manor. Though his mines only ever produced a few rare gems before running dry, the Palpatine patriarch, Stephan van Palpatine, avoided ruin by shifting his interests into goods and services. As owner of the general store, the main link to the outside world, Stephan was the most influential man in town, and he and his granddaughter Rey were the wealthiest citizens of Starkiller Hollow. Rey was Palpatine’s sole heir; on top of that, she was charming and beautiful, with twinkling brown eyes and a broad, bright smile. Many came to call on her, and Armitage was one of them.

Unfortunately for Armitage, Miss Van Palpatine had another suitor: Kylo Van Ren. Where Armitage was a slight man, could even be called frail, Kylo was large and strong. And while he might not have as pretty a face, he had other desirable qualities, including the fact that he was the grandson of Stephan Van Palpatine’s late business partner.

Despite Kylo seeming to be the obvious match, Miss Van Palpatine seemed to favor Armitage, inviting him to tea on more than one occasion. Not to be deterred, Kylo kept courting her as well. No matter when Armitage came to call upon Miss Van Palpatine, Kylo seemed to always be there. He performed feats of strength and daring in her presence, brought her trophies from his hunting trips, and cajoled her with sweet words. As the weeks and months passed, Armitage was surely getting frustrated with Kylo’s interference, just as Kylo was frustrated by Armitage’s persistence.

One night, when the moon was full and the air was crisp and the wind rustled through the dying leaves of the trees, there was a gathering at the tavern in town. The townsfolk warmed themselves with drink and dance, and, as the night grew longer, stories. Armitage was there, and Kylo, perhaps seeing an opportunity to torment his rival, told the tale of the Headless Rider. He made sure to point out that the path the Rider always took was the same path Armitage would take to get from town to the schoolhouse that night.

Armitage seemed unaffected, but he also took his leave of the gathering early, shaking hands and murmuring apologies and setting out quickly into the brisk fall evening. Perhaps he was not so unaffected after all.

He mounted his horse, a feeble, broken-down old cart horse, and set off at as brisk a pace as he could manage. The wind was strong, and a gust very nearly took his hat. He clamped it down onto his head with one hand and held the reins and his lantern in the other, peering out into the moonlit night with trepidation.

Half the trip was spent jumping at shadows and jolting at the creak of tree branches shifting in the wind. After another of these countless moments of brief terror amounted to nothing, Armitage let out a deep sigh. Perhaps he was reassuring himself that nothing was going to happen, that it had all been a story.

But then he turned his head toward the moon, low on the horizon, and there, at the crest of a distant hill, he saw the Rider.

Silhouetted in black, a massive stallion reared up on its powerful hind legs as the enormous, caped figure on its back, broad and tall and _missing a head_ , raised a ball of flame in its hand.

Armitage ran.

The lantern fell to the cobblestones and the wind succeeded in snatching his hat as he grabbed the reins with both hands and spurred that cart horse on down the road as fast as it would go, digging his heels into its sides and snapping the reins and shouting “Giddyap!” over and over. Behind him, he could hear the gallop of the Rider’s stallion, pounding out an unrelenting rhythm on the path.

The sound drew closer. And closer. And closer.

And that is all that is known to the good people of Starkiller Hollow.

Armitage Hux was never seen again, nor was the cart horse. He never made it home; his little house was the same as he’d left it that afternoon, as was the schoolhouse. The only signs left behind of what had transpired were Armitage’s lantern and hat and the broken remains of a pumpkin, smashed on the ground near the covered bridge.

Some believe Armitage escaped the Rider, that he made it over the bridge and just kept going, that he simply never came back. Some believe the Rider spirited both Armitage and the horse away, taking Armitage’s head for their own and damning him to hell. The more clever townspeople guessed that the Rider was not a ghost at all, but Kylo Van Ren, scaring away his rival for good; these shrewd, good-humored people only laughed when Kylo later told the story of Armitage’s disappearance, and did not object in the slightest to Kylo’s marriage to Rey Van Palpatine—for yes, they were married, shortly after Armitage’s disappearance.

But of course, none of these explanations are quite correct, are they?

That the Headless Rider is a generations-old legend is true.

That Armitage Hux disappeared that night is true.

That Kylo Van Ren dressed himself to resemble the Headless Rider and carried a lighted pumpkin through town, leaving it smashed near the covered bridge; oh, that is very true.

But Kylo’s true motivations are known to no one but Kylo himself—you will be the only other person privy to them.

You see, Kylo Van Ren had no romantic interest in Rey Van Palpatine. What Kylo wanted was the kyber gem mines, which were not dried up at all.

That’s right. Stephan Van Palpatine had claimed there were no gems to avoid a jewel rush. In the decades since, he had been secretly buying up more and more land. Now his properties span all the hills surrounding the valley; hills filled with priceless gems, his for the taking.

But you’re not surprised, are you? That’s what you were after as well, wasn’t it?

Perhaps this part of the story _will_ surprise you.

I have no interest in Rey Van Palpatine. I’ve already sent her off to live with my mother in the Hudson Valley. She knows nothing of the kyber, or anything else, and I intend to keep it that way.

But I am interested in you.

I knew from the very first moment I saw you that you would be mine. Beautiful, fearless, clever...that you were after the same thing I was only made me want you more. And now I have it, and you. Now I have everything.

No one knows you’re here. Everyone thinks you’re dead or gone. There’s nowhere you could go, even if you did find a way to leave this place.

But you’ll be happy here. I’ve brought a few things from your house, to make you more comfortable. Tell me if there’s anything else you want. I’m the most powerful man in town now. I can get you anything.

Now, now. I won’t undo those shackles if you don’t behave. Just give it time. I’m sure you’ll come to appreciate what I’ve done for you.

I’ve brought you something nicer to wear. Here, I’ll help you put it on.

**Author's Note:**

> Content notes: I didn't use archive warnings on this because while no archive warning events happen in the fic, it can be inferred that noncon will happen later.
> 
> While relationships with Rey are discussed, they don't technically happen and no one wants them.


End file.
